They settled in Kael's quarters, where Harkin immediately emptied his satchel onto the table. It contained a jumble of items: ancient tablets similar to those from Stonehollow but smaller, scrolls covered in faded script, a collection of small stones with symbols carved into their surfaces, and most notably, a medallion of dark metal identical to the one found buried beneath Joreth's village.
"My life's work," Harkin explained, arranging the items with reverent care. "Collecting and preserving knowledge that others dismissed as myth or superstition. The true history of the March, of the Wastes, of the Sundering itself."
"You knew what was happening at Oakridge before it occurred," Kael stated, not a question but an observation. "That's why you escaped with these items."
Harkin nodded, his expression darkening. "I've tracked the Servants' activities for decades. Mapped their ritual sites, documented their patterns. I knew Oakridge was marked for sacrifice, tried to warn the people, but who listens to an old drunk rambling about ancient evils?" Bitterness tinged his voice. "So I saved what I could. The knowledge, if not the lives."
"And Fort Marrow?" Elara asked. "We found your map marking it as the next target."
"Not just another target," Harkin corrected, selecting a tablet from his collection and placing it before them. "The culmination of this phase. Fort Marrow sits at a nexus point, a place where the boundaries between our world and what lies beyond the Veil are naturally thin. The fort itself was built on the ruins of an ancient structure that once served as a gateway."
The tablet he indicated showed a crude map of the March with lines of force converging on the fort's location. Symbols around the edges matched those they had seen in the ritual circle at Oakridge.
"The Servants have been preparing for generations," Harkin continued. "Creating anchor points throughout the region, gradually weakening the boundary. The recent rituals: Stonehollow, Oakridge, and the others are the final steps. Fort Marrow is the key that unlocks the door."
"Unlocks it to what?" Kael demanded, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
"To what waits beyond the Wastes," Harkin replied, his voice dropping to a whisper. "The entity the Servants worship. The hunger that has been feeding on the land's vitality since the Sundering. They believe that by sacrificing enough life energy, they can create a permanent opening in the Veil, allowing their master to extend its influence beyond the Wastes' current boundaries."
The scale of the threat was staggering, far beyond bandit raids or political machinations. If Harkin was correct, the entire March, perhaps even territories beyond, faced extinction.
"How do we stop it?" Kael asked, focusing on the practical rather than the overwhelming scope of the danger.
Harkin's expression shifted from grim to calculating. "The Servants' power comes from death and decay. It can be countered by life and growth." He selected another item from his collection, a small stone cup carved with symbols similar to those in the Stonefang Manual.
"Water from your new well, channeled through the irrigation system you've created, already works against their influence. But to truly disrupt their ritual, we need to create a counter-circle - a boundary of protection anchored by your connection to the land."
"My aura circulation," Kael said, understanding dawning. "You believe it can be adapted for this purpose."
"It's not just combat technique," Harkin confirmed. "It's a fragment of the Stonefang arts, preserved through generations. The visualization of roots anchoring to the earth, that's the foundation of the protective rituals that once kept the Wastes contained."
Elara, who had been examining Harkin's collection with growing interest, looked up sharply. "The tablets from Stonehollow mentioned the Stonefangs as wardens or guardians, maintaining balance where others sought to exploit power."
"Exactly," Harkin nodded approvingly. "The Stonefangs weren't mystics or sorcerers. They were protectors who understood that the land itself has power; power that can be guided, not commanded. Your irrigation work, your planting, your physical labor alongside your people, all of it has been strengthening your connection, preparing you for this moment without your conscious awareness."
The system activated briefly, confirming Harkin's assessment.
***
[Stonefang Legacy: Awakening (Accelerated)]
[Counter-Ritual: Viable]
[Requirements: Water Circle, Aura Anchors, Synchronized Effort]
***
Kael absorbed this information, connecting it with his growing understanding of the March's challenges and his own unusual abilities. If what Harkin suggested was true, they had a chance to not just defend against the immediate threat, but to begin reversing the damage inflicted on the March over generations.
"Tell me what we need to do," he said simply.
Harkin smiled for the first time, revealing teeth worn but strong, like the man himself. "First, we complete your water circle not just around the fort, but connecting to the fields you've irrigated and the new well. The flowing water creates a network of life energy that the ritual cannot easily penetrate."
"That's already underway," Elara confirmed.
"Good. Next, we need to establish anchor points at regular intervals along this circle, places where your aura technique can be focused to strengthen the boundary." Harkin selected several of the carved stones from his collection. "These will serve as physical focuses. They need to be placed by someone with the Stonefang gift - you, while in the aura state."
"And finally?" Kael prompted.
"Finally, when the Servants begin their ritual, you must activate all anchor points simultaneously, creating a counter-circle that reflects their energy back upon itself." Harkin's expression grew solemn. "It will require more aura control than you've likely ever attempted, sustained for longer than you're accustomed to. The strain will be... significant."
"Potentially fatal?" Elara asked bluntly.
Harkin didn't flinch from the question. "Possibly. The Stonefang techniques were meant to be developed over years of training, not implemented in crisis by someone with partial understanding."
"But we have no choice," Kael concluded. "If the alternative is what happened at Oakridge happening here, on a larger scale..."
"Precisely," Harkin agreed. "And you won't be working alone. The anchor stones can be activated by others once you've placed them, reducing the strain on you personally. People with strong connections to the land; farmers, well-diggers, those who work directly with soil and water."
They spent the remainder of the night planning the counter-ritual in detail, with Harkin providing instruction on the placement of anchor stones and the specific visualizations required to activate them. By dawn, they had a strategy that, while desperate, offered at least some hope of countering the Servants' ritual.
As the first light of day filtered through the windows, Kael felt the system activate with a comprehensive assessment of their preparations.
***
[Defense Strategy: Multi-Layered]
[Physical Defenses: Improvised but Functional]
[Ritual Countermeasures: In Progress]
[Probability of Success: Uncertain]
[Critical Factor: Timing of Bandit Assault vs. Ritual Initiation]
***
The evaluation highlighted what Kael already recognized as their greatest vulnerability, the need to counter both physical and mystical threats simultaneously, with limited resources for either. If the bandits breached their walls before the counter-ritual could be completed, or if the Servants began their ritual while the fort's defenders were fully engaged with the bandit assault...
"We need to be prepared for both threats to manifest simultaneously," he told Garek as they inspected the completed Reinforcements along the western wall later that morning. "The physical and the mystical, coordinated for maximum effect."
"Fighting on two fronts," Garek observed grimly. "With barely enough strength for one."
"Which is why we need to be smarter than our enemies," Kael replied. "Be more adaptable, more resourceful. They expect us to focus on the visible threat of the bandits while remaining vulnerable to the ritual. We'll prove them wrong."
Throughout the day, preparations continued at a feverish pace. The water circle was completed, a continuous flow surrounding the fort and connecting to the irrigated fields.
Harkin, with Kael and Elara's assistance, identified optimal locations for the anchor stones, placing them at intervals that formed a pattern invisible to ordinary perception but clear to those with knowledge of the ancient practices.
Kael spent hours in deep meditation, practicing the expanded aura techniques Harkin had described. The strain was considerable, extending his awareness beyond his physical body to connect with the anchor stones, required concentration and energy far beyond what he normally expended in combat applications. By evening, he was exhausted but had made measurable progress.
As night fell over Fort Marrow, Kael stood on the northern wall, gazing out over the darkened landscape. Somewhere out there, the Sandblight's forces were gathering for their assault. And with them, or perhaps moving separately, the Servants of the Veil prepared their ritual implements, anticipating the sacrifice of an entire settlement to their hungry god.
The wall beneath his feet was broken, cracked, patched, reinforced with makeshift reinforcements that might or might not hold against a determined assault. But it was not just stone that defended the March. It was the will of its people, the life taking root in its soil, the water flowing through channels dug by hands that refused to surrender to despair.
Broken walls could be mended. Broken land could be healed. Even broken lives could find purpose and renewal, as his own journey from paralyzed teacher to reincarnated knight had proven.
The system activated briefly, a warm pulse of assessment that seemed to echo his thoughts.
***
[Territory Bond: Strengthened]
[Leadership: Tested (Responding)]
[Preparation: Maximum Possible Given Constraints]
[Status: Ready for Confrontation]
***
Tomorrow would bring challenges beyond anything the March had faced in generations. But tonight, in this moment of quiet before the storm, Kael allowed himself to acknowledge how far they had already come from a barren gift to a community worth fighting for, worth dying for if necessary.
Whatever came with the dawn, they would face it together. Not as lord and subjects, but as people united by common purpose and uncommon determination. The broken walls would hold, because they must. The land would endure, because they willed it so.
And perhaps, in that endurance, they would find not just survival but transformation for the March, for its people, and for Kael himself.